Social, Economical, and Environmental Impacts of Buying Local and Organic

The first time I was introduced to the idea of eating local and organic to decrease negative impacts on the environment, was while doing research on global warming. I was taking a technical writing class to keep my mind active during a short stint as a receptionist…The final class project was to pretend to be a researcher for a Virginia senator and write a two-page report about global warming.  While I’ve been concerned about conservation since I was a child—buying “save the rainforests” pencils from the Cleveland Zoo in third grade, always turning off lights when I left a room, cutting plastic six-pack rings to save the turtles, and shutting off the water while I brushed my teeth—it was the global warming report that made I realize all the things I wasn’t doing. I began to understand that simple lifestyle patterns or actions, such as paying attention to the food I am buying, have a great impact on the planet.

What I gathered from reading different articles about global warming, buying local foods can reduce my impact on the environment.  Buying from local farmers will support my community’s economy, and cause less pollution and demand less energy for transportation.  Buying USDA certified organic food means antibiotics, steroids, and pesticides are not used in the production of the food, thus I will not ingest unnecessary chemicals.  Also, pesticides will not get into the soil, water, and air.  

So how much exactly do my food-buying decisions impact the planet?  Based on the footprint calculators I did two weeks ago, my food-buying decisions need to be improved.  Food was my second and third to worst category in both the ecological and carbon footprint calculators.  After reading articles on line and developing my blog for this week, I’ve come to realize how little I know about the impacts of changing from “conventional” food to organic and local, the specific details about what is considered organic and local, and what new findings and current news in the food business.  It has been a hot topic for some years now and it’s about time I get up to speed.  There is a journal article all over the Internet that is based on a study done in the UK on organic food vs. conventional food.  The journal article basically says it was found that organic foods do not have higher nutritional value than conventional food.  But this is not what I’m after.  I want to know the environmental and economical impacts the growing, storing, transporting, and selling of food.  This is going to take time to sift through information and find out what studies have been done to support the importance of buying local and organic food.  I want to know specifically, the pros and cons of local vs. non-local, of organic vs. conventional, and of local vs. organic. 

Next week's blog will contain a summary of my findings, both research in journal articles and news articles, and real-life research as an Alexandria resident, i.e., I will attempt to purchase only local and/or organic foods for five days straight (Friday – Tuesday).  I will talk about my experience, the pros and cons, and how I will move forward to make better food-buying decisions and in the end, reduce my guilt.